Dragon Chess
by Isil Elen
Summary: Slayers Try from Xelloss's POV. May fill in some gaps, but mostly just for fun. And to see Filia twitch. Multichapter, incomplete. No yaoi. IT LIVES! Chapters 3.5 through 6 are up!
1. The Pot Gets Stirred

Author's note: In a nutshell, this 'fic is Try from Xelloss's POV. No particular reason, just pure, Xelloss-y goodness. Evilness? Anyway, I don't own Slayers.

* * *

Somewhere, a dragon just teleported.

The ripple made by a dragon converting its mass to the Astral Plane is unmistakable; the very fabric of a dragon's aura screams protest as it hauls the physical body along. The tell-tale ripples make a teleporting dragon easy to trace, and combined with the difficulty of such a task, make the act fairly rare. Your average dragon teleports once every few years.

However, a dragon just teleported, and did so near Lina Inverse.

The petty matter I'd been attending to can wait. The anchor in Lina's substance pulls me swiftly to her, and I can see the dragon lumbering heavily through the Astral Plane, wings rowing uselessly. A golden dragon. Very interesting. She drops back into the physical plane with a small sigh of relief, but doesn't seem drained by the act of teleporting. Sinking lower, binding my aura so that she doesn't detect me, I hover just outside the physical plane and look at her. Well, that explains it, she's in human form. That makes it less exhausting, dragging only a small human body around. She puts her hands to one of the baubles she's wearing, and begins a somewhat lengthy and demanding process of changing back into her natural form. She must be young – it shouldn't be that much of a struggle to shift back.

With an obviously forced scream of what's supposed to be primal rage, she launches herself from the tower and makes a series of passes over the docks and boats. There is minor damage and moderate chaos, and I wonder what the silly thing's trying to do. My lovely little friends scamper onto one of the ships, obviously intending to lure the dragon out to sea. Lina's enthused, Gourry's blinded by his moment of understanding, even the chimera's a bit excited – but the little white-magic princess is dismayed. Another pass, and the captain and crew jump ship. Amelia grounds herself with a snap, taking command and polishing her favorite phrases about justice. The ships wallow into position, and a row of white-magic sorcerers prepare to launch an assault on the dragon as she comes back around. I can't help but be amused – white magic, against a dragon? A being created by the very entity that white magic draws from? The rest of the fight is as much a farce as the first attack was; the dragon knows how to fly, that's for sure. Lina's had just about enough. I can feel her frustration, and that steel behind the fire. She's marginally more effective than the others are, but the dragon is still unscathed. Her temper is almost at the boiling point. Wait for it, wait for it . . .

"Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows. . ."

There is a short pause, and then the influx of Lord Ruby Eye's power electrifies the Astral Plane around her, forming a swirling vortex of black energy that crackles red as it centers upon her. The talismans that amplify her powers glow slightly in response, and the dragon tries desperately to get out of range. Just before the blast consumes her, however, she hurls herself back into the Astral Plane. The sea's response to the explosion hurls Lina's ship further from shore, stranding my favorite people.

Well, well, well. A golden dragon causing chaos and luring Lina away from the lands previously covered by the seal. I know we'd agreed to let the dragonkin into and out of the area freely, but we honestly didn't expect them to send someone in so soon.

There is a bit of a squabble; they could technically get back to shore, but Lina doesn't want to go back. She didn't intend to cause that much damage to the port town, but apology has never been her strong suit and it's easier for her to blame the 'Filia' that she suspects caused the dragon attack, and fueled by the desire to wreak her vengeance upon the girl, she uses unfair logic and bullying to get her way. I'm so proud of her! It looks like my presence has been rubbing off on her. Let the dragonkin try to use her as a pawn in their schemes; once she discovers that Filia is the golden dragon that attacked the port town, they'll have no chance. Lina hates being manipulated more than anything else in the world, and the dragonkin aren't very good at it. Mazoku, on the other hand, are. Lina's a piece on My Lord Beastmaster's side of the chess board, and has been since she was twelve.

Ah, Lina, things are never boring around you. Whatever shall we do when you're gone?


	2. Landfall

Author's note: They're still not mine. Still pretty much just set-up for the fun, mayhem, and havoc that are about to ensue. And I shake my fist at not being able to represent the Lord of Nightmare's name as an L followed by five dashes to indicate that not even Xelloss can say a Name of that magnitude.

* * *

Ten days out to sea, seven days since the last crumbs of anything edible have been eaten. My little toys have lost the energy to even squabble amongst themselves. The suggestion was made, five days back, that Lina cast another Dragon Slave behind them to create a tidal wave that would surely propel the boat towards land. Lina refused; there's no reason for casting the spell, and despite what typically ensues around her, she does not relish needless destruction. Unknowingly, she made the right choice. My Lord Beastmaster maintains good relations with Lord Deep Sea, and a blast that size would surely upset the other mazoku lord. Three days back, the chimera voiced the thought that if Lina started bitching me out, surely I'd show up to protest innocence, and they could bargain with me for safe passage to shore. Any shore. Again Lina refused, repulsed by the idea of asking for help from anyone, much less me. Ironically, I _have_ been gently urging the ship towards a section of shore at the pleadings of the dragonkin. 

When Filia's little adventure got my favorite toys stranded, the dragonkin lost touch with Lina. The young golden dragon got herself lost on the Astral Plane and when she clawed her way back to the port, Lina's ship was out of sight. She returned to the Fire Dragon King for orders, and he sent a messenger to My Lord Beastmaster in desperation and at the suggestion of the Water Dragon King. My Lord Beastmaster agreed to have me deliver Lina to a place of the dragonkin's choosing, on the condition that I accompany her as a representative of the Mazoku Race. Having no other option, they agreed. The dragonkin hope that the current situation can be resolved without our help, but they're not above trying to use us for their own ends if need be.

The port the dragonkin have selected is being attacked by bandits when Lina's enthusiasm drives the boat into the city. There is a quick fight – Lina's easier to anger when she's hungry – and then the feasting begins. This is going to take a few hours. I report to My Lord Beastmaster that Lina has been delivered to the appointed town; she in turn relays the information to the Fire Dragon King's messenger, who lumbers heavily through the Astral Plane to make _his_ report. By the time my little friends have finished eating, a familiar profile cuts through the sky over the sea and heads out towards the desert. The chimera sees it first, but the other three don't miss it, either. They recognize it as being the same dragon that attacked the port, and Lina goes from 'sated' to 'enraged' without so much as pausing at any of the emotions between them. Starvation and exhaustion forgotten, the four dash through the streets in pursuit of the young gold.

When they catch up to her, she's in the process of assuming a human form. Faced with the girl who supposedly wanted to hire her turning into the dragon from the port, Lina stutters a moment and her train of thought crashes. She recovers as the dragon attempts pleasantries. From the Astral Plane, aura tightly bound to not reveal my presence, I watch with amusement. Let the games begin! Lina versus the Golden Dragons, round one!

Lina demands explanations; she only gets part of one before Gourry sidetracks the dragon priestess with a discussion about shifting forms. Our favorite sorceress drags the topic back to the attack on the port, and why it happened.

"I was confirming your power, as I said I would." Filia's nonchalant about the whole thing.

"So you attacked a town to do THAT?"

Boy, did the dragonkin lose points there! Manipulation and threatening innocents, way to get on Lina's good side!

"Destroying the town wasn't my intention. You did that with your spell, Miss Lina." The dragon is smug and self-righteous about it, trying to shift the blame to Lina, not wanting to admit that the Dragon Slave wouldn't have been necessary if she hadn't attacked, nor would it have damaged the town if she had staged her test elsewhere. Lina is incoherent with indignation. "Besides, if you couldn't handle something like that, I doubt you'd be able to survive what's ahead of you."

Obviously, the Fire Dragon King hadn't been informed of Lina's exploits . . . or does not believe the tales. Either way, the dragonkin have just lost some more credibility in the group's eyes. Filia goes on to recite the prophesy, and a discussion about it ensues. My Lord Beastmaster already knows more than this naïve dragon has been told; I was there when the Ancient Dragons killed the lord from another world and took his magical bow. In fact, I was the one sent to offer them the choice of keeping the bow safe but never using it, or fighting the entire Mazoku Race for it. When L-.-.-.-.-, the Lord of Nightmares and of Dreams, first inhabited Lina's body, My Lord Beastmaster sent me to ask what it was She wanted the Mazoku to do. L-.-.-.-.- took me through the barrier between worlds and let me glimpse the two worlds adjacent to ours. In one, Lord Death Fog had vanquished her opposite and the world was a sterile pit of darkness and death. In the other, Lord Dark Star and his opposite had engulfed the world in a bitter struggle for supremacy that was slowly devouring everything. The disapproval radiating from L-.-.-.-.- made it clear that these two paths were not what She desired. The Sword of Light had been used as an object demonstration; it was revealed to us that it had been created, along with five other weapons, by Lord Dark Star and his opposite at a time when they were working in harmony. Hearing the words of the prophesy, knowing what we know, a lot more is becoming clear.

Filia finally gets to the point: the dragonkin want Lina to represent humanity and save the world. My little friends laugh it off; in irritation, the dragon tells them that Lina is a fill-in, a runner-up. The blow lands, and Lina's amusement evaporates in the pain of her wounded ego. Nearly incoherent with rage, she flatly refuses to be herded around after being insulted, and the dragon brings out a small, white envelope. Whoah! I back up about fifty feet on sheer reaction to the aura that clings to the paper. The Flare Dragon's Knight . . . they sent an emissary to the Flare Dragon's Knight. Lina reads the note and freaks out, gibbering in panic and performing hysterics that would have been amusing if I weren't cringing away from the two-month-old aura on the paper.

After much cajoling and soothing and just a bit of unnerved reaction to the thought of a sister that frightens Lina where a fragment of Lord Ruby Eye failed, the others finally convince Lina to calm down and take the job.

Well, well, well. It looks like I'll have to introduce myself to Miss Filia. After all, we're going to be traveling together.


	3. Mayhem ensues

Author's Note: This chapter has been lengthened a bit because the extra stuff wouldn't really work as its own chapter. I don't own Slayers, so I can't be held responsible for the actions of the characters. And if you believe that, Xelloss would _really_ like to have a word with you about some waterfront property in Arizona.

* * *

Travel, of course, doesn't happen for a while. There is food to be eaten, ancient holy places to be searched for magic items, and a spire to be perched on. Filia is slowly coming to a boil, impatience and self-importance burning her up from the inside. There's a cloud of 'how _dare_ they' surrounding her most deliciously. Ah, the taste of angry young dragon. Almost as sweet as irritated Lina. She has a point, however. I'll just have to help her 'encourage' our little friends to get a move on. 

With the current situation, Amelia has been promoted from Pawn to Bishop. Her fondness for heights and casual use of healing magic have gotten her dubbed an angel, and she's preaching justice to an adoring crowd. The chimera has been a Rook since the incident with the Chaos Dragon; he's systematically breaking into holy places in search of ancient magic that can restore his human body. A human form, a quick word to the city guard, and Zelgadis is dubbed a demon. Minimum effort expended, and the result is a face-off between the 'angel' and the 'demon'. The dragon can't take it – she shrieks at both of them and lands a solid blow on the chimera with her mace. It has the desired effect, however, as the contrite group agrees to finally start the journey to the Fire Dragon King's temple. Time for my entrance!

I slip into the physical plane, wearing my usual form, and wait for the group to pass. My aura is completely bound, and the dragon passes without detecting me. Once I'm behind her, however, I begin a quick but fun game of tease-the-dragon. By unbinding my aura and then binding it again, I am able to cause her to feel my presence but never identify where it's coming from. She hasn't been around mazoku before, much less a powerful mazoku like me, and it's not even a minute before she loses control of her form and the tail slips out. My little friends surround her, trying to both calm her and hide the tail. I scamper through the crowd and step out into the street, letting Lina catch a glimpse of me. She's not dumb; she grasps instantly that I'm behind Filia's unease and takes off after me in a rage. Perfect! I lead her on a merry little chase through dark alleys, her cries of 'get back here!' and 'show yourself, damnit!' following me through the shadows. Almost bursting from the effort of not laughing, I finally leap into a puddle of sunlight – and promptly vanish into the Astral Plane before she can confirm my identity. She stands there, irritation drowning beneath the sinking knowledge that if I'm involved, things must be truly serious. Gourry and Amelia run up after a few minutes, followed by the chimera and the dragon. An explanation is demanded; Lina replies cryptically that 'a real demon' may have shown up, one they haven't seen in a while.

"You saw Danas?" Gourry uses the assumed name I first introduced myself with. Lina takes vengeful pleasure in using my true name, but the others are more comfortable with the false one.

"It had to be him. I'm sure I saw him coming towards us as we were leaving town." Lina avoids naming me, not wishing to upset the dragon priestess further.

"But it's not like Danas doesn't know us. Why would he vanish like that?"

Lina twitches, knowing that I'd gleefully pull a stunt like that simply for the reaction. "I have a feeling that Filia's prophesy and his appearance are connected." She doges the question entirely, getting straight to the bad news.

"Miss Lina, you mean . . . ?" Amelia grasps the hint immediately, despair warring with unhappy resignation. "Are you saying . . .?"

"Yeah." My favorite sorceress is already resigned to the fact that she'll have to deal with me again, and steeling herself for the battle of wits sure to come. "I think the mazoku might be involved in this mess, too."

"I'm more inclined to believe in the prophesy, now."

The chimera's biting cynicism amuses me, but not as much as the dragon's reaction. She's practically having a nervous breakdown at the thought of a mazoku invading her holy personal space, and hasn't quite gotten past that to the realization that she, personally, will have to cooperate with a mazoku. She screams an almost incoherent demand for the mazoku to show himself, aura flaring with panicky anger and drawing a casual blast from a bound aura closing in on us from further into the desert. I bind myself tighter and slink closer to investigate, then saunter back once I've tasted that uniquely abhorrent aura. If I had lips and salivary glands, I would spit.

Well, well. It looks like all the rats are coming out of the woodwork. My Lord Beastmaster is just as pleased by this development as I am – we never bothered hunting Valgaav down and destroying him, but if he's going to muck up our chessboard . . . well then, he'll just have to be eliminated.

The usual taunts and smart-aleck replies pass for introductions and pleasantries, and then the abomination pulls off an imitation Gaav Flare that pulls from his own substance rather than the deceased Chaos Dragon. He's able to cast it without even the name of the spell; he must have been refining it since he was separated from his 'lord' by the seal. It misses, but Lina is able to feel the Chaos Dragon's energy signature and she comes to the realization that this enemy must be one of the late Gaav's minions.

"Bring back any memories?" The abomination lashes out, half-accusation and half-brag. "At the very least, this power is beyond any that you know!"

Mmm-hmm. Not quite, you wretched mismatched thing. The memory of the Golden Lord flashes through my mind and Lina's; the comment shakes our sorceress out of her slight panic and puts the steel back in her aura. She demands an explanation, and is told to suffer the way the Chaos Dragon suffered. A second Valgaav Flare pummels the protective shield the three mages are holding up. The element of surprise is gone, replaced by the reflexive cooperation of battle. Amelia wails in mourning for the lost tranquility of the day; Lina curses the circumstances that bring chaotic events to her feet like adoring puppies. The fire in her aura overwhelms the steel, and in a tone that demands blind obedience, she shouts for me to show myself and do something helpful. I comply with half the demand, hovering in the physical plane a hundred and fifty feet up from the combatants. I suppose I _could_ do something helpful, but where would be the fun in that?

The wretched thing calling itself Valgaav intensifies the blast, knocking Queen, Bishop, and Rook backwards. We shall have to give the abomination a designation; despite our distaste, My Lord Beastmaster firmly assigns him Knight status. He's working for someone, and we'll need all the information before we take him out. In the meantime, he's too powerful to be considered a mere Pawn. Knight resorts to physical violence, tossing Amelia out of the way and blasting Gourry and the chimera backwards before they can come closer. The insult to Lina's person brings the steel back out, and she trades barbs with the abomination, using all the tricks she learned from dealing with me. Unfortunately, she's mostly bluffing. It will take time to cast the Ragna Blade, and Valgaav's not going to give her time to do anything.

Knight attacks Knight; Gourry's got the Sword of Light out and makes an attack that's half distraction to give Lina a chance to get to her feet. Valgaav uses the blade to channel a spell directly into the man's body, and the energy of the blade pulsates weirdly at being used in such a way. There's a faint echo of that pulsation nearby, and even fainter echoes further out. I retreat to the Astral Plane to track them, and two things become clear. There are four echoes responding to the pulsation of the Sword of Light, and one of them correlates with the seal the Ancient Dragons placed over the Bow of Light. This is not good. Well, it might be useful later, but we know now who Valgaav is taking orders from. The chessboard gains a third side, and My Lord Beastmaster begins calculating all the changes it will bring.

"I know." The abomination replies to some unheard comment.

Shit. I bind myself tighter still and creep closer, examining his aura for . . . there! A seed of substance that does not taste like the Flare Dragon, nor Lord Ruby Eye. Revulsion sends me skittering back, away from this triple abomination. This changes things. I'll have to be extra-careful with this one.

Bishop and Rook attack Knight with a double wind spell, knocking Gourry and Valgaav apart. Lina cries out as the swordsman reaches the apex of a truly impressive arc, concern for the swordsman streaking through her aura. Well, he _is_ useful to us . . . can't have him just dying, and she _did_ order me to do something helpful . . .

When the dust settles, all eyes are on me as I perch on a pillar of stone, swordsman held casually in one hand, dangling by his ankle. I pose for a few seconds, then let him drop this safer distance to the sand.

"I've finally found you, _Valgaav_." I twist his name into a mockery, volumes of disdain for the name and for him infusing that one word. He knows I'm here to kill him.

"Xelloss." His tone in turn challenges me to do my worst.

It wouldn't be polite to offer and not follow through. We both unbind our auras fully, feeling each other out before engaging in a magic fight on the physical plane. Being the unholy mismatch that he is, he's not very good at controlling his aura, nor is he very comfortable on the Astral Plane, and I'm more than happy to let him stay in the physical plane. I blink in and out, dodging blasts and sending out attacks of my own. The ones on the physical are more of a distraction than anything else; my real attacks impact on his astral body, which roars in pain and thrashes uselessly. There's another reason, as well.

"Elmekia Lance!"

Lina knows better than to trust me, but she also knows that despite all appearances, I am her ally. Given the choice of a mazoku that is tying to kill her and one that helped her find the Ragna Blade, she'll cheerfully help me to spite him. The shamanistic spell impacts painfully on one astral wing, and Valgaav dives away from her . . .

. . . right into the path of our other Knight, energy-blade at the ready. Where Lina goes, Gourry also goes. He's not very effective – the seed of foreign substance gives the abomination-Knight protection from the sword's edge – but it herds Valgaav nicely to the ground where he's faced with Lina and her friends on one side, and me on the other. He makes a quip about us ganging up on him unfairly, and Lina comes right back with his 'lord' having faced us in the same configuration. A taunt to his ego, and she bullies him into facing us all at once. The conflicting auras must have softened his brain; he's too reckless and not considering the danger of the situation. An unnatural earthquake distracts him and the humans, and in a flash I'm on him, swarming his astral form and raking it with a thousand talons. With a normal mazoku, my goal would be shredding his substance. With this abhorrent patchwork, however, my first priority is to tear out that seed from another world. Valgaav reverts to the Astral Plane before I can rip through enough of his aura to reach it, trying his best to rake me with his talons. Where his form is a mimicry of his natural draconic body, however, my form is fluid and he can't get a grip. He takes off then, shooting straight for the location of the closest echo. There must be another foreign lord there; I have no wish to face a Queen I have no chance of defeating.

I break off and return to our side's Queen, going into my usual routine of nonchalance and feigned surprise. Lina mimics my act, then puts me in a headlock and vents her frustrations on me. I give her the satisfaction of thinking she's forced a confirmation of her suspicions out of me, then feed her a cryptic warning to herd her along. A quick break to retrieve the dragon from where she got buried in the sand, and I am treated to Lina versus the Golden Dragons, round two. I get accused of involving Lina in an unspeakable, horrible plot and go along with it, neatly deflecting the accusation back at her.

"Oh, I get it! It's okay for _you_ to lure her out here on a pretext – but it's horrible if I did it first?" It's true, we do use Lina in our plots, but we manipulate her only with utmost skill. Filia's blatant, clumsy manipulation is still fresh in Lina's mind, however.

"Even if I did use a pretext, I'm trying to save the world from a threat!" Self-righteousness surrounds the young dragon in a smothering cloud, grating on Lina's nerves. "It isn't like the selfish pretexts a _mazoku _would use." She smirks at me, thinking she's got a hit in.

Lina remembers the devastation at the docks, and my distracting the Chaos Dragon to give her a chance to run away.

"A pretext is a pretext, isn't it?" I reply sweetly, sending the dragon into a fit of sputtering.

"All right! Calm down, you two."

Lina pushes us apart wearily, then turns from Filia in silent dismissal and demands that I tell her everything I know. In seeming compliance, I reveal two things that they already knew, and drop another crumb by hinting that the 'enemy' is looking for a weapon similar to Gourry's sword, but more powerful. Dropping another clue unasked-for, I send them all on a wild-goose chase to the origin of the earthquake. After all, it would be an excellent ambush, and an ambush is only effective if one doesn't see it coming.

The ambush goes as expected; the sword guarded by the Sand People is removed by one of Valgaav's flunkies, releasing a moderately challenging creature. Our chess pieces opt to not fight it, instead using creative spellcasting to replace the sword and re-seal the beast. Right on schedule, the Knight-abomination appears with – well, that's interesting. It seems the other Queen brought his weapon along and lent it to Valgaav. It's a sort of double-bladed sword, and definitely more powerful than Gourry's. Knight attacks Knight again; the two energy blades impact and merge, forming a resonating, pulsating vortex of energies going wild. The swirling energies shoot up like a fountain of madness, then separate with an explosion that sends both Knights flying, and when the dust clears . . .

The third Queen is hovering there where the vortex was, aura completely unbound. It washes against me like an acidic tide, eroding me through sheer overwhelming power rather than by polarity. There can be no mistake – this is one of the Lords of another world, one of the five that belong to Lord Dark Star's opposite. Frantically, I beat back terror and struggle to think. I can feel My Lord Beastmaster's dismay as she tries to analyze and plan for this. It's an almost physical relief when this "Alumace" orders his Knight to retreat.

"Like we're gonna let you do what YOU want to do? You're not getting away!"

If I had a heart, our Queen's cry would have made it stop beating. Lina casts an Elmekia Flame, followed by the chimera's Ra Tilt, and I close my eyes. Those spells wouldn't kill me, and this foreign lord is much more powerful than I am. Nightmare magic is our only chance, and Lina won't get the time she needs to be able to cast it. She's going to die, and there's nothing I or My Lord Beastmaster will be able to do about it.

"Oh no, their magic wasn't strong enough!" The dragon is irritatingly shocked.

"That's not it." If we're all doomed, the least I can do is dash her hopes before we die. "It's not that their magic wasn't strong enough. Magic won't work against someone like him." Not white magic, not black magic, and none of us are strong enough for shamanistic magic to work. And only Lina can cast Nightmare magic . . .

Alumace regards us with a distantly amused expression as the fires of the Ra Tilt disperse, then with a burst of light, he teleports away with Valgaav. My Lord Beastmaster's flash of insight shocks me out of my swirl of despair, and I agree with whatever Filia just said out of reflex. Alumace didn't cast. He didn't shield, he didn't attack, he didn't defend, and even his teleportation only drew upon his own abilities. He and his Knight had the upper hand; he has to know that he could crush us easily, so why didn't he use any magic?

:This is the key to everything, my pup.: My Lord Beastmaster's excitement is held in check by the high stakes we face. :Find that answer, and we'll have all the knowledge we need.:

We start to drift away, in the direction of the Fire Dragon king's temple. Like My Lord Beastmaster, I am busily assessing the situation and going over every remembered detail of Alumace's aura, and the seed in the abomination's. Filia seems to have recovered from her fright; she starts laying into me without any pause longer than what it takes to gasp for breath. I wonder idly if she realizes what a hypocrite she's being, acting in all the ways she's accusing me of acting. Very prejudiced of her, considering she's known me for all of an hour or two. Well, Milgasia eventually learned how to talk to me like a civilized being. I wonder how long it will take me to break this one of her arrogant hypocrisy.


	4. Slow Boil

Author's note: As promised, Xelloss makes Filia twitch. But it's her own fault, really. I think it's been over a year since I last updated this. If my style's off, let me know? Please?

* * *

Filia, for being a know-it-all, is appallingly ignorant on the local geography. She has only the barest idea of where she's going, which means that she must have flown everywhere and not lowered herself to actually _traveling_ in that human form she wears so awkwardly. Her holier-than-us attitude clashes with Lina's take-charge bent, leaving the chimera and Amelia grinding their teeth discreetly, and Gourry cheerfully oblivious. I'm actually more familiar with this area than the dragon is, and Lina reluctantly accepts my suggestions. I'm cooperating a smidge too much for her comfort, but uninterrupted travel raises only her level of paranoia – following my suggestions raises the naïve gold's hackles, more because she can't stand to see me be _right_ than anything else. Her muttered predictions of my leading everyone into a mazoku trap are ignored, and she seems to take the smooth journey as a personal insult. I'd take the time to play with her more, but My Lord Beastmaster has put priority on getting our chess pieces to the other side of the board as quickly as possible. Thus, I behave myself. To an extent, it _is_ amusing to be as polite and inoffensive as possible. It convinces Filia that I'm up to no good, and her unwarranted reactions make her look bad – and she knows it. 

When we come to a certain fork in the road, there's a debate as to which path to take. Were we not in a hurry, I'd cheerfully send them to the little town just down the hill.

"Well," Lina asks, hands on her hips. "Which way?"

I point my staff down the left-hand fork.

"No!" Filia interrupts, as Gourry starts down that path. "We simply MUST take the path to the right!"

The things I do for my Lord… "Oh, really?" I manage in a mild tone. "I think we should take the one to the left." It goes against my grain to leave such an opportunity untaken, but this is what My Lord Beastmaster desires.

"Oh, no!"

"'Oh, no'?" Why must she fight me at every turn?

"No mazoku is going to trick me THAT easily!"

If she only knew… "You're just going to dismiss me out of hand?" I've been _good_, damn her. I haven't once misled them or entertained myself by toying with them, but the more trustworthy I present myself as, the less she trusts me. If she weren't the Fire Dragon King's Bishop… 

Lina breaks in, asking Filia if her way is the shorter way. The stiff-necked dragon brazenly declares her ignorance, pulling out her status as a priestess of the Fire Dragon King and waving it around as an excuse to not "lower herself to agreeing with some mazoku who serves some decrepit old dark lord."

That's it. I'll tolerate her attitude only so far – after all, I _am_ the Trickster Priest and a few days of good behavior isn't going to erase a thousands years of well-earned reputation. But I will not stand by and let her insult My Lord Beastmaster. Never mind that my assumed name succeeded in misleading her, and she thinks I serve Lord Cold Mountain. I pluck the arrogant twit's strings expertly, sending her off on a posturing ego-trip, then keep my silence when she leads everyone straight into the town I was going to steer them around.

I'm going to enjoy this.

I keep discreetly out of the way for a while, letting the golden dragon and our Queen butt heads. Only after Filia has been defeated do I step in to fine-tune the situation. To my surprise, the silly thing takes her prejudices to a whole new level and blames me for Lina's appetite. Anyone with the barest knowledge of how magic effects human metabolism would understand Lina's eating habits. Yet, somehow, the dragon works herself up enough to start clumsily changing to her native form – right there in the restaurant. As much as I'd love to let her get lynched, we still need her. I take more pleasure out of needling her than I should, but it gets her out of sight and keeps her in human form. In the confusion, I slip back into the Astral Plane. The chimera points out that my little friends now have no way to pay their bill, but brilliant little Lina comes up with a pretty speech about finding poor, abused Filia, and they run out on the bill with only a single twinge of regret – and that was from Amelia.

Despite the pretty speech, my little friends are more concerned with not being found than they are with finding Filia, and dusk descends wetly on the town before the inevitable mob corners the arrogant little twit. Hearing the town's history forces some humility down her throat, but it's followed by the foreign Queen's two bumbling Pawns making their inelegant appearance. Seeing the Dragonkin's Bishop get thrown in jail is an added bonus, but her blind prejudice has worn on my nerves enough that I don't enjoy it properly. I'm sure Lina and her friends will free the dragon before the trial gets to the 'execution' part – either that, or the dragon will free herself. Either way, learning that her kind aren't universally beloved will be good for her. We _do_ have to work together.

Ah, random destruction. Lina has arrived. Unfortunately, what was shaping up into a nice little fight becomes an awkward situation as the mob threatens our chess pieces. They won't attack normal humans, of course. Fortunately, the easiest solution is also the most enjoyable. It's simplicity itself to goad Filia into a draconic rampage. The mob scatters, the two Pawns get knocked into next week, and my little friends make their escape in the chaos that ensues. Once Filia calms down, she joins the others outside of what's left of the town. And, just because I can, I blithely join them to stir her back up. For some reason, the reminder that it was _her_ decision to take the road that led here makes her more angry at _me_. If she can't deal with the results of her own mistakes, the sins of her race are sure to have her frothing at the mouth. However did a priestess manage to stay so ignorant?


	5. Next Stop

Author's Note: Here's a partial scoreboard for those trying to keep track. The three sides of the chessboard are: Mazoku, Dragonkin, and the other-world ones. Xellas Metallium is the Mazoku side's 'king' - her Queen is Lina, her Knights are Xelloss and Gourry, Zelgadis is a Rook and Amelia, a Bishop. The Fire Dragon King is the Dragonkin side's 'King' - they so far have only shown their Bishop, Filia, and designated Lina _their_ Queen, as well. The third side has only shown their Queen, their Knight (Valgaav), and two Pawns, Jillas and what's-his-face. I don't own 'em, I just play chess with 'em.

* * *

Lina and her little friends are accustomed to me vanishing for days at a time. Filia is not, but she doesn't object when I do, and My Lord Beastmaster agrees that there is no reason to have me trudge along behind the arrogant little dragon for the whole trip to the Fire Dragon's Temple. I can keep tabs on Lina through my anchor in her aura; in the meantime, I spy on the foreign Queen and try to figure out why his aura feels so…wrong. The answer to everything is there, waiting to be grasped, but it eludes us. Alumace just sits on his throne, letting his Knight do all the work. There are a handful of opportunities for engaging that abomination in combat, but My Lord Beastmaster stays my hand. We don't know enough of the board to risk taking out that Knight. Him, we can deal with. It would take our Queen to deal with Alumace, and if we removed his Knight, he would surely face us himself. 

Through the seed of my substance planted in her aura, I can feel Lina's curiosity.

:Go, my pup. We can do no more here.:

:Yes, My Lord Beastmaster.:

I let my anchor draw me to Lina, who is in some kind of temple imbued with dormant magics. I can feel My Lord Beastmaster's amusement, and she wordlessly commands me to aid them – but gives no hint as to the nature of this ruin. It's slightly before my time, and this was all dragonkin territory when it was constructed, so I never had the opportunity to investigate. When Filia's bracelet activates the dormant magics, it's all I can do to stay in the Astral Plane, laughing and whooping with glee. A dragon train! How marvelous! Giant wheels emerge from their bases, and the whole ruin slowly gains momentum, using the strange wall that runs through this region as a track. The possibilities for mischief spread before me, and I can't choose. I'll just let my lovely little friends play with their new toy, and watch the fun. That said, I can't resist popping in just for a moment to point out how much this will reduce travel time. Predictably, the dragon tries to pin this on me. How it can be my fault when it was _her_ race that built it and _her_ magic that activated it, I'll never know. Her panic is most delicious, however.

The havoc is glorious. Bridges that have stood for thousands of years, strong enough to bear the inconsequential weight of humans but brittle beyond belief, hold just long enough to support the weight they were built for before crumbling into enormous rockslides. Villages that huddled under the protective bulk of the gigantic track are torn to shreds by the force of the passing draconic train, their inhabitants terrified beyond words or deafened by the noise of its passing. It's dinner and entertainment all in one. I'm not any more bothered than Lina is by the fact that the presence of the Sword of Light is giving the train more power than it was built for, or that the brakes long ago ceased to work. Her life comes before draconic architecture. But for some reason, the thought of the train smashing into the temple of the Fire Dragon King doesn't sit well with Filia. She's got a brain in there, behind her prejudices – she threatens our Queen obliquely with the possibility of relaying this incident to the Flare Dragon's Knight – Lina's big sister.

Well, can't blame Lina there. I'd stop the damn train myself to keep on the Flare Dragon Knight's good side. The train crashes through a good-sized city that managed to build itself on and around the track. It's slowed by the buildings, but not enough. Filia manages to come to her senses long enough to admit that breaking the 'engine' is the only way to stop the thing, but then descends into hysterics when my little friends actually start doing so. Surprisingly, the two bumbling Pawns come in handy for the 'breaking' part, but inertia keeps the monstrosity going, and there are no more handy cities to slow it down. Lina casts a Dragon Slave on the thing, and her pleasure at feeling the power course through her trickles through me, too. Unfortunately, it's not quite enough, and a relatively small chunk still winds up hitting the temple. It causes very minor damage, really, and my little friends have arrived just in time for breakfast. All in all, quite satisfactory – for our side, at least. The dragonkin may have a different view of the incident. Ah, and speaking of the dragonkin, here they come. I've been bound, so they haven't detected me, but they're likely to want to blame this on me and for once, I had almost nothing to do with it. I slip back to the Astral Plane, Lina shrieking for me to take her with me as the golden dragons land to confront my little friends.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not so, the elders of the temple opt to treat Lina and the others as honored guests. It seems that for all of Filia's posturing, the dragonkin aren't quite as secure in their choice of Queen as we are. Or rather, they aren't confident that Lina will consent to be their Queen on this chessboard. Regretfully, I cannot follow Filia and her Elder. I would be detected almost immediately in this place; I must content myself to hovering outside the temple and spying through my anchor in Lina's aura. Whatever Filia told her Elder, it seems to have made him doubt the wisdom in choosing Lina for their champion. The higher-ups of the temple retreat back inside it, leaving our chess pieces to fix the mess they made. Yes, staying out of sight was definitely a good choice. As much as I wish I knew what the Elders were discussing inside, watching Lina apply her steel-and-fire aura to this most medial of tasks is a pleasure. Seeing her bully golden dragons into helping is a bonus, and the architectural scribble that results will keep me laughing for years. It looks like a hallucination sprouted from the Temple of the Fire Dragon King, and with the high horses the golden dragons ride, they'll likely spend the next few centuries telling each other in outraged whispers how unseemly it is – but never actually get their hands dirty fixing it.

Finally, my little friends get summoned for an interview, and I start paying attention. The chimera interrupts almost before it gets started, demanding to know why the dragonkin don't just take care of it themselves, if they don't trust mere humans to do it right. Trust the Rook to go straight to the point. The Supreme Elder counters with a runaround that the very prophesy forbids them from actually doing anything about it. One of his juniors jumps in pompously, declaring that they have to keep the whole thing secret from the Mazoku. Too late for that! Silly dragons. They think we've grown impatient now that Lord Hellmaster and the Chaos Dragon are out of the way? They obviously have no idea about what _really_ happened – or that My Lord Beastmaster had any involvement. It's true, our goal is within reach, but I'd hardly say that seizing the moment makes us _impatient._ Trust the Golden Dragons to continue their unchallenged arrogance, thinking that the loss of those two makes the whole race somehow weaker, and that we have nothing better to do than plot against them. I suppose the fact that we released the Water Dragon King just as soon as we could was a show of weakness, never mind that we'd been providing protection for the Water Dragon King and all the dragons trapped within the seal, and not killing and torturing them as we could have.

:Easy, pup.: My Lord Beastmaster chides me.

Well, whatever their pathetic delusions of grandeur, Lina is still _our_ Queen and they have not won her over to their way of thinking with their sniveling. The sorceress is unimpressed by how much the dragonkin are unimpressed with her, and not flattered to be considered a gamble. Just as she starts threatening to not go along with the dragonkin, however, the foreign Queen comes screaming through the Astral Plane like the draconic train through one of those demolished cities. I follow in his wake as he passes; with power like that invading the temple, who's going to notice one little mazoku Priest-General?

The Supreme Elder is in shock that the temple could be violated so easily. What is _wrong_ with the dragonkin? Can't they feel his power? Don't they understand that he's neither dragon nor mazoku, and the power of the Flare Dragon or Lord Ruby Eye won't touch him? Can't they see that he's easily the equal to Lord Hellmaster – or the Fire Dragon King?

:Watch him carefully: My Lord Beastmaster commands, and I can feel her tension. :Protect the Queen if you must. I feel we are about to learn what troubles this foreign Lord.:

I watch carefully, in full agreement. Whatever happens here, I get the feeling none of us will like it.


	6. The Plot Thickens

Author's note: You know, these are pretty easy to do when I just sit down and do them.

* * *

Queen faces Queen. Knight draws the Sword of Light, but its blade and the blade of the foreign Queen's double sword start flickering, then pulsing in time with each other. No one moves.

Well, if he'd wanted to destroy us, he would have started already.

"My name is Alumace. I come from the Overworld."

Lina briefly explains that he comes from another world, and I remember the glimpse I got just after Lord Hellmaster was obliterated. The Sword of Light was created during a period when Lord Dark Star and his opposite were working together. Alumace bears a double-bladed sword made the same way, and the bow taken from the foreign Lord and sealed by the Ancient Dragons was the same. Thus, Alumace must be the third of these Lords – presuming the pattern of five Lords per god holds for the other worlds, we may have to deal with two more of him.

The dragonkin demand the foreign Lord's reasons for coming here, and are told that he is seeking the weapons that were lost here so long ago. Well, _I_ could have told them that. They try to smooth things over, offering Alumace the Sword of Light if he'll just leave, and then ask what he's going to use it for.

"What I desire is to summon the Dark Lord Dark Star to this world."

Oh, hell no! We have enough problems with the fragments of Lord Ruby Eye!

No one is pleased to hear this. Lina demands to know why, Amelia assumes his goal is world domination, and the dragonkin – predictably – ask why he can't just do it somewhere else. Again, they try to bribe the foreign Lord with the sword he seeks if he'll just go make his messes elsewhere, and even Filia is shocked by the disgustingly self-centered suggestion. Alumace agrees to the terms, however, and the Supreme Elder is obviously not afraid to take the sword by force. Typical. The dragonkin are losing major points with Lina, Zelgadis, Amelia, Gourry, and even Filia.

And then, of course, the abomination-Knight crashes the party. Hmm, friction in the ranks of the enemy – Alumace is desperate, was desperate to use Valgaav as his Knight. Something's not right. But with that mismatched aura unbound and so close to me, it's suddenly clear.

Alumace's aura is also tainted.

Knight attacks his own Queen, and the seed of foreign substance in him means that Alumace actually has to block the blasts. But that's all he does. My little friends take the opportunity to run, and the foreign Lord follows them, offering to spare this world if they hand over the sword. Lina would rather go down fighting than sentence another world to the fate this one would have escaped, and surprisingly, Filia joins our side of the chess board. I smirk a little; her Superior Elder isn't happy about that. I pop out to applaud her, and the older dragon about has a fit. The slightest show of support further alienates her from her elders, but I'm not here for that. Not really. Not with the Chaos Dragon's abomination offspring poised on part of the temple, watching. My little friends realize that the chessboard has three sides just as Alumace launches a purely physical attack. The Supreme Elder keeps his dragonkin out of my way – a wise move, because I'd sacrifice whole countries to protect Lina. Abomination-Knight attacks my Queen; Knight blocks Knight. Lina leaves me to my job and focuses with the others on Alumace. I might have worried about them, but he's limiting himself to physical attacks and defensive magic only. It's a stalemate, and I have my hands full with the wretched half-mazoku who should have been dealt with years ago. It's almost no contest; he's not good enough on the astral plane to really be a threat, but I can't get in close enough or deep enough to rip out the seed of power Alumace gave him. Both fights continue fruitlessly for a while, and then I feel the words of the Ragna Blade being spoken. My domination of the fight slips as I split my attention between Valgaav and Lina; the double-bladed sword manages to withstand the Nightmare blade, but Lina succeeds in getting a hit in before the power of the spell is too much for her and she releases it.

The panic of his Queen overwhelms the abomination-Knight, and he invokes the power of his natural form – the Ancient Dragon. Filia's superior shamelessly explains that the dragonkin slaughtered them all long ago, but my mind isn't on that. Valgaav is focused on one thing, and the two halves of his aura aren't fighting each other. He knocks me out of the way and strikes his own Queen, doing more damage than the Ragna Blade did, and takes the double-bladed sword. This is what the Golden Lord was trying to show me when Lina summoned Her and She obliterated Lord Hellmaster – dragonkin and mazoku working together are a hundred times more powerful than either of them alone. She wouldn't have made things this way unless She had intended for the two races to work together. My Lord Beastmaster was right, but it doesn't help us. Not when the thing which is both dragon and mazoku has armed itself with the equal to the Sword of Light and is threatening Lina. Luckily, his hatred quite overwhelms his dragon part, and the mazoku aura attacks the dragon body. A bit of bluffing on my part, and he retreats. Alumace has retreated, as well, and very possibly for the same reason.

Well, this hasn't been a disaster after all. The dragonkin accept Lina to be their Queen, and Filia joins our side of the board. In effect, the dragonkin are bowing out of the game. They only had two pieces, and My Lord Beastmaster has control over both of them now. On top of that, we've learned quite a bit about the other side of the board. Perhaps, with Valgaav wounded, I can sneak around and have a chat with the other Queen…


End file.
